The Artless Phantom
by arkveil7
Summary: We all know that on the 75th floor, Kirito was able to defeat HealthCliff and free everyone. We all know that at the beginning, ten thousand players were trapped. But what if, one extra player was added. What if this new player was outside the rules of the S.A.O What if, a Phantom was added into this virtual battle for freedom? Warning:First Fanfiction. No pairings well, maybe ;)
1. Chapter 1

_Sword Art Online_

In the year 2022, Kayaba Akahito created the first every Virtual Reality gaming device, the Nerve Gear, the first VR game, Sword Art Online, and caused the deaths of almost four thousand people. Trapping the ten thousand players in his new world, Aincrad, Kayaba gave them these terms, be trapped in this world forever or defeat all one hundred floor bosses. If a player were to die however, the Nerve Gear would fry their brain and kill them. Over time, a player called Kirito was able to figure out one of the other clearers, players who fought to clear the game, was Kayaba in disguise and battled to the death. Kirito came out the victor and the six thousand remaining players were released.

This is how the story should have went, however someone**(A/N Me XD)** else had other plans.

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When Kirito looked back to the "tutorial" Kayaba gave, nothing stood out most other than the man who fell from the sky. Kirito remembered being shocked when Kayaba told everyone that they were trapped, how they had two choices, live in this world forever or conquer all 100 floors and clear the game. Kirito was especially shocked when he heard that if a person was too die, they would die in real life. However, Kirito quickly came to the conclusion that no one else had yet, he had the be the first to the hunting grounds and get stronger. Now, with these "Death Game Rules", everyone's life depends on one, single number, their Level. Turning to take Klein, the rugged man who stood in the place of the young and handsome looking warrior, and ask him to come with Kirito, he heard something. It was getting louder by the second. It was screaming! And it was coming from... above?

Everyone in the square now heard the shout too and looked up, including Kayaba, to see a little black dot against the backdrop of the ceiling getting larger and larger. The scream was originating from that! As the unknown object got closer, people were able to see that the falling object was a player. _To be told we are in a game were dying was death in real life then see the first player fall to his doom,_ Kirito thought darkly.

One more scream came from the player before he or she hit the ground with so much force that the game created a dust cloud around the impact. The thought that no one could have survived that ran through everyone's mind, and yet their attention was still focused on the dust cloud. As if they were expecting something to come out.

As the dust settled down, Kirito expected to see the armor and sword dropped by the unfortunate player, only to be surprised to see he was still alive! Groaning as he picked himself off the ground, the player looked around to see everyone starting at him. The player looked young, maybe around Kirito's age. He had black hair and a pale skin, similiar to Kirito. _He must be a shut in gamer as well_, Kirito thought. There was nothing peculiar about the boy, really, until Kirito saw his eyes. It was a dark blue. And in them wasn't fear, but confusion. _Had he not heard the tutorial?_

"Well, that was an interesting entrance," spoke a booming voice, Kayaba had not yet disappeared apparently. "I trust one of you will explain the circumstances to the late comer. Other than that, I wish all of you luck in completing my game." And with that, Kayaba melted back to the blood like substance and left.

Now, everyone began to scream. The fact they were now trapped finally registered with everyone. Chaos ensued, people screaming that this was a hoax, it was just a first day prank. Kirito was about to take off as well when the boy shouted, "QUIET!" It actually worked.

"Can someone tell me just what is going on and where the hell am I?"

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**There we go, great start to my first fic, ain't it? Sorry its so short but I couldn't think of anywhere else to end. The chapter lengths are pretty much going to vary, just depending on what is going on in the story really. Please give comments or criticisms you want, even flames are accepted as I wish to improve and I think hearing from you guys will help me with that. So this is where I end it off, next chapter we find out who this mysterious player is and how he ended up fallling from the sky!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ah, procrastination is going to kill me one day. And pickyness... alright so here comes the next chapter to The Artless Phantom, now we get to see what changes because of our certain new friend. Hope you enjoy! Please read and review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, just my character(s) and plot.**

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_Thorn, just who is he,_ Kirito wondered. It has been a day since the boy, Thorn, fell from the sky. Most people stayed in the starting city to see what would come from the strange boy, while only a few had left to go train and do quests. As far as Kirito knew, all of them were beta testers. Shrugging mostly to himself, Kirito kept walking to the inn so he could complete his latest quest.

Just as Kirito was about to walk into the building, someone charged out of the inn and crashed straight into Kirito. Groaning from shock, not pain as in this world pain can be turned off, Kirito laid stunned on the ground. The player who ran into Kirito quickly jumped back onto his feet and dashed off, but not before shouting back a quick sorry to Kirito. When the player turned his head back to apologize, Kirito saw it was Thorn. Thorn kept running down the road until he turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

As Kirito brought himself back up, two more players ran out of the inn, knocking over Kirito, again. Unlike Thorn though, they stayed and helped Kirito back up. Kirito quickly moved away from the inn's door, just to be safe.

"Whoops, sorry about that," said the taller of the two players, he had orange eyes and some freckles covered his checks. He had curly brown hear as well. He still wore the starting gear, so Kirito assumed he was one of the players who hadn't left the city yet. "We were chasing after a friend when he took off suddenly."

Kirito tilted his head, "Was that friend of yours by any chance Thorn?"

The taller player's eyes went wide, "You saw where he went? Which way?"

Pointing behind him, Kirito replied, "That way, not sure where he was going though."

"Hey, that's towards the city balcony," the second of Thorn's friends spoke. This one had dark black hair, but his eyes were a bubble gum pink. Before Kirito could ask if it was because of dyes, the player shook his head. "No dyes, my eyes are natural." _I wonder how many times this player said that,_ Kirito thought.

Kirito frowned, "The balcony? What would he want to do at the balc-"

"Hey, you two! Where you guys going?" shouted the orange eyed player. Kirito turned around to see two players about to go in the same direction Thorn had.

"Didn't you hear? Someone's gonna jump off!" they shouted back before running off.

Panic went through the players and without another word the trio started to chase after the two players and hopefully get to Thorn first. The three easily passed the two players who gave them the new. This made Kirito wonder, _How are these guys able to keep up with me, its as if they were the-._

"The same level as you?"

"Huh?"

The freckled player gave off a laugh, "You had a weird look on your face, like you were wondering why we are keeping up with you."

The shorter player smiled, "We go out of the city to train, there's no point of staying in this world if you aren't going to get stronger, right? The name's Emile, and this guy here is Rex."

Kirito raised an eyebrow, "That seems a bit generic."

Rex just shrugged, "It's a nickname back in real life, thought it'd be nice to have it as my name."

"So, what's yours?"

Kirito hesitated before responding, "Kirito."

The big guy let out a laugh again, "Alright, we're all introduced now!" Rex lost his smile and a serious look replaced it, "Let's get back to finding Thorn."

Emile's smile dropped to and he nodded. The two began to speed up, giving in their all to get to the balcony. Kirito did the same. As they got closer to their destination, Kirito asked Rex and Emile, "Did Thorn do anything weird, or show any signs that he would do something like this?"

They both shook their heads. "No, not really," Rex said.

"Well," Emile started, "when we were talking with Thorn back at the inn, he suddenly stood up without warning and ran off. That seemed a bit weird. But nothing else."

Kirito took in this piece of information and stayed silent. Finally, the trio made it to Starting City's balcony. See, the way the town is positioned on this floor is in a way that the walls that protected the city would eventually end off at the edge of the floor. This made a gap in the city walls and in that gap was a balcony. Kayaba must have wanted a safe way for players to just stare out into the world.

The three players saw a group of players here already, "Crap," shouted Rex, "We didn't get here fast enough."

Kirito shook his head, "No look, they aren't leaving, that means something still has their attention."

Emile nodded and dashed off toward the group. He cleared a way through the mass of players by pushing and shoving. They made it to the center of the players, and at the center was…

"That's not Thorn." It was just some other player. This wasn't were Thorn was heading to. The player who stood by the fence that kept players from falling off brought his attention to the trio who forced their way to the front.

"Wanted a front row seat to the first player to escape?" This confused Kirito and the others.

"What do you mean, escape?" Rex asked.

"Why, to get out of this prison, Sword Art Online of course." The player started to speak to the rest of the crowd. "You all can't have believed Kayaba when he said that if we died here, we die in reality. I'm calling his bluff. I bet this was just a way to make the game more intense. I bet when we die, we will respawn, or even better, get out of the game!" The player climbed onto the fence.

"And to prove it, I will jump of this edge!" The player turned around and spread out his arms. "Good bye Sword Art Online, I'm leaving for reality!" And the player leaned forward.

**A/N Now, as much as I desperately wanted to end this off right here, I decided to add this final bit in.**

"Hell no!" A player came in from the left of the crowd, running across the fence, the player grabbed the falling one's hand and swung him back into the crowd of players, replacing him as the falling one. However, the newcomer was able to grab the fence and hold on.

"Phew, didn't think I would be able to do that." The player tried to pull himself up, but failed. "Um… a little help here?"

Kirito rushed over to help up the player and saw it was Thorn. So he had came here after all. After Thorn was safely on the ground, the other player had shouted to him, "What are you doing?" He demanded, " I was about to escape when you ruined it!"

Thorn glared at the player, "No, what are YOU doing? Don't you remember that if you die, you die for good!"

The player smirked, "You believe Kayaba? See here! Here is one of the players who think Kayaba was telling the truth!"

"I believe him because there's no other possibility."

The player frowned to this, "What makes you say that?"

Thorn stepped forward, "Think about it, why would Kayaba, someone who spent years working on this, discredit himself by supposedly trapping everyone inside it! To have spent so long on Sword Art Online, he must be serious about everything he's done! Including this."

The mass of players continued to talk amongst themselves, Thorn was starting to convince everyone. The player, however, wouldn't give up and tried to get the crowd back.

"If that is all true, then we should give up hope now. I heard the beta players took the entire session to only get up to the 10th floor! And that was with the ability to re-spawn for every death! What chance would we have to get to complete the game? Or how many will survive?"

This started to sway the crowd back, but Thorn still had more to say. "And how long do you think we will be trapped if we do nothing? If we stay here, then we will never escape and our bodies will waste away! You all heard Kayaba, the only clear way to leave is the beat the game, and I intend to!" Thorn climbed onto the fence like the player before, but instead of jumping off, Thorn stayed on the ledge, and spoke louder.

"For those who don't know my name, I am called Thorn! I am a trapped player like the rest of you and I have only one goal! To beat the game and escape! I will lead the battle to do so! In next two days, I will leave the city, fight, then return!" Drawing out his sword in a flawless motion, Thorn held his sword up high." I may be at level 1 with no knowledge on this world, but I will show you it is possible to survive, and when I return, I will teach you how to fight!"

And what Kirito saw surprised him was that the sword Thorn drew out, of a player who supposedly hadn't left the city yet, was the Annel Blade. But what Thorn did next surprised Kirito even more, because Thorn looked toward Kirito as he said,

"Of course, with Kirito's help."

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**Tada! And we end it here, I wonder how Thorn got the Annel Blade and knew Kirito's name. :3**

**Well, we'll find out next chapter!**


End file.
